Barber chair!

Wesspur
Rugged made
Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

turnkey4099

Tree Freak
. AS Supporting Member.
Joined
Feb 27, 2002
Messages
20,060
Reaction score
20,755
Location
se washington
Best clip of a barber chair happening I have ever seen. Sure makes a convert to 'bore cutting'. The URL is copied from the embedded clip. I hope someone can sort it out. From what little I can make out it seems to be repeated twice. I got it from the tractorbynet forum.


Falling a tree gone wrong (Barber chair) - YouTube

That is for sure worth seeing and the guy returns right to it. It would have taken me awhile to just clean my pants out.

Harry K
 
Hedgerow said:
Is this common in trees that aren't leaning heavily?
Click to expand...

Straight grained trees that are weighted on the side of the face, too deep of a face, storm damage, unseen hollows on the side of the face, unintentional dutchman. They don't have to be heavy leaners.

Red Oak, and Sassafrass can be bad for chairing in thier own right, lean or not, if a guy dinks around on the back cut after going too deep on the face.

The guy in the Vid made a waay too deep face, and then dithered on the back cut for whatever reason.
I don't think a bore cut would have helped him one whit.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
 
Someone better teach that boy to commit to the back cut or stay in the truck.
 
dingeryote said:
Straight grained trees that are weighted on the side of the face, too deep of a face, storm damage, unseen hollows on the side of the face, unintentional dutchman. They don't have to be heavy leaners.

Red Oak, and Sassafrass can be bad for chairing in thier own right, lean or not, if a guy dinks around on the back cut after going too deep on the face.

The guy in the Vid made a waay too deep face, and then dithered on the back cut for whatever reason.
I don't think a bore cut would have helped him one whit.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
Click to expand...

I would have to say I've never had one do that...:msp_confused: I've heard of it, but most of the stuff I cut is leaning so hard, there's no question as to what it's gonna do... Just figured I'd get some info from you straight tree guys... I may find one some day...
:hmm3grin2orange:
 
dingeryote said:
Straight grained trees that are weighted on the side of the face, too deep of a face, storm damage, unseen hollows on the side of the face, unintentional dutchman. They don't have to be heavy leaners.

Red Oak, and Sassafrass can be bad for chairing in thier own right, lean or not, if a guy dinks around on the back cut after going too deep on the face.

The guy in the Vid made a waay too deep face, and then dithered on the back cut for whatever reason.
I don't think a bore cut would have helped him one whit.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
Click to expand...

Agree on the 'dithering' Even after returning to he was just nibbling at it. At that point all that was needed was to "lay into it and drop it".

I have had 1 1/2 barber chairs in my long career. one ran about 15ft up the tgree and the top stayed attached. I was several steps away with my back turned when it happened so I didn't get to see it go. The other was a huge willow that showed signs of one. I managed to outcut it on one side but it left a tall 'spear' on the other side. 4'+ dbh with at 25" bar.

Harry K
 
It looks as though a restudy is needed on my part for cutting depths and what not. Being a rookie at tree felling I don't really care too much for felling big trees just for this reason.:mad2:
 
Hedgerow said:
I would have to say I've never had one do that...:msp_confused: I've heard of it, but most of the stuff I cut is leaning so hard, there's no question as to what it's gonna do... Just figured I'd get some info from you straight tree guys... I may find one some day...
:hmm3grin2orange:
Click to expand...

LOL!!

The gangly ones in the windrows that are weighted all goofy, never chair.
They don't have to, as they have vines to pull dead stuff down on the unwary guy with the saw.
It's evolution. I am sure of it.:hmm3grin2orange:

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
 
When a tree starts to fall, for crimps sake finish sawing it down or you will have a lot of barber chairs. Never turn your back to a tree on till its on the ground. #1 rule when fell trees.
 
My bet is a fat Dutchmen and not enough throttle. Fast saws and sharp chains save lives. Sometimes it's needed to thin the heard though.
 
In all my years, I've never had this happen to me but it sure gives a person food for thought. Great reminder... Thanks for posting the clip.

Rep sent
 
That wasn't much of a leaner but sometimes it doesn't take much for a 'chair to happen...especially if you practically beg for it to happen. You guys that called the "dithering in the back cut" got it exactly right.

If the tree isn't big enough to bore, a Coos Bay Cut will help lessen the chances of a 'chair. Not eliminate, but lessen.
 
I've had one barber chair...before I even knew the term or what caused them! Red "Swamp" Maple.

After a while of sizing up what the hell to do next, decided to just walk away and let mother nature make it safe (took a couple years but the top finally fell down and I cut it up...top was well seasoned having hung up in the air for a few years!)

Question:

Was it just dithering with the saw when he started his back cut, or do you think going and dinking around with the camera and leaving the back of that tree in tension longer then necessary contributed???
 
This video has been around for years, many, myself included, have agreed it was staged to show the effects.
Yes, it was caused by "dithering" on the back cut, it had enough head lean to cause this effect and if you listen to the saw, it's almost as if he's trying to cause it to happen, just cutting little bits at a time waiting for it to happen.
It is a GREAT example of how, why, and how fast it can happen though, and worthy of watching and learning from!
 
I was cutting a slightly leaning second growth chestnut oak a couple of years ago. Did a fairly shallow face cut and then started in on the back cut. What I didn't know was that the middle of the tree was hollow. Once I hit the hollow she popped and splintered. It left the front side of the tree about 20' up, the remaining top fell as planned, and the back side blew out against the other trunk of the tree. I saw it start to split and was able to get out of the way.
 
If you can't slap those hollow trees down with an excavator, you can double strap above your cut to keep them in check long enough to get thru them without getting kicked, that said I'd rather move along to a safer tree or take it down with a machine.
 

Similar threads

Paul Bunions
Plunging: Safer for Amateurs?
2 3 4
Replies
78
Views
7K
donmakesallthefuelbegone
donmakesallthefuelbegone
D
Help - White Ash Removal
Replies
12
Views
3K
woodfarmer
W
Harlen
Falling Large Trees with a Small Saw
2
Replies
20
Views
4K
Husky Man
H
K
Dangerous barber chair felling ash infected with emerald ash borer
9 10 11
Replies
205
Views
26K
056kid
056kid
SemperFiSawguy
Advanced log splitter plumbing question
3 4 5
Replies
93
Views
6K
SemperFiSawguy
SemperFiSawguy

Latest posts

Back
Top